Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- General Motor Co.’s Cadillac brand, resuming sports marketing after the automaker’s bankruptcy, will return to racing in 2011 with a version of its CTS-V Coupe competing in the Sports Car Club of America World Challenge.
Cadillac’s return to SCCA would be GM’s latest move to boost its sports marketing after budget cuts ended many of the automaker’s racing programs and sponsorships during the past several years. Detroit-based GM ended many of its golf sponsorships before its 2009 bankruptcy.
“This is a good platform to promote V-series, which strengthens the Cadillac brand,” said Jim Vurpillat, Cadillac’s global marketing director. “V-series represents what we want the brand to be: the height of design, performance and technology.”
The first event in the SCCA World Challenge is March 25-27 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Johnny O’Connell, a three-time GT1 champion in the America Le Mans Series, and Andy Pilgrim , who won the 2005 SCCA World Challenge GT class in a Cadillac, will be behind the wheel of the CTS-V racecars, GM said in a statement.
Pratt & Miller, a New Hudson, Michigan-based engineering firm that specializes in motorsports, will help develop the CTS-V Coupe racecar. Some of the production components will be modified because of the special demands of racing or SCCA series rules.
Cadillac said on Nov. 29 it will sponsor the World Golf Championships PGA event at Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami in March. The tournament will be renamed the Cadillac Championship through 2016.
GM ended its relationship with golfer Tiger Woods in 2008 and its sponsorship of the Buick Open golf tournament in 2009.
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